Helen Hayward’s philosophy on family has completely changed my life, and in ways I never expected it would. Many of my friends and family members would be stunned to learn, for example, that I now actually enjoy the housework.

One quote from Helen’s new book, A Slow Childhood: Notes on thoughtful parenting, found its way onto the bedroom cupboard door even before we’d exchanged contracts, because it made me completely rethink the way I was setting my priorities: “Start doing whatever you care about most today”. Not what you want most, or need most, but what you most care about.

Unsurprisingly, I found myself cutting back my work hours to spend more time with my children after reading Helen’s manuscript. I started heading to the school library twice a week with my four-year-old while his brother was in music lessons. I took the seven-year-old out of the Spanish lessons he hated and booked him into drawing classes instead. Now he’s spending late afternoons immersed in his drawing book instead of asking to watch TV or play electronic games. They’re both going to bed earlier and spending more time listening restfully as we take turns reading them to sleep. The Narnia books filled our summer nights, with the Faraway Tree series lasting through much of autumn. We’ve always read to the boys, but it was a chore before, eating into time we thought we needed for us. Now it’s my favourite part of the day, and theirs.

It’s the housework revelation that has been the most surprising for me of the changes Helen has inspired, though. She has made me appreciate for the first time ever the value to my wellbeing of working to keep a tidy and pleasant home.

“… Done in the right spirit, housekeeping can be just as uplifting as any other activity,” Helen writes in A Slow Childhood.

“There is something rather wonderful about being on top of it … It’s the domestic arts that give rhythm, depth and style to family life.”Continue reading →

The author, Carl Beauchamp, is a resilient and optimistic Sydney man who grew up in the care of an alcoholic mother in Glebe and Newtown in the 1940s and ’50s, was abused by members of a paedophile ring while living at the Church of England Charlton Boys Home at Glebe, but went on to become a father of four, grandfather of 12 and great grandfather of 17. Carl is still married to his first love, Beryl.

Despite the hardships Carl faced, his is an uplifting story containing colourful scenes of life growing up in the Inner West in those days, such as racing painted paddlepop stick ‘horses’ through the drains of Newtown.*

Carl has been active in encouraging former inmates of the boys’ home to come forward to give evidence to the Royal Commission and is a remarkable character who will inspire his audience on Sunday and all who read his story in Come Home, You Little Bastards.

*If you can make it to the launch, please bring a paddlepop stick bearing the name of your favourite racehorse so you can be part of the re-enactment of Carl’s childhood game in King Street on Sunday.

After spending the past few months covering the Federal and ACT elections as a journalist, I’m thrilled to be focusing on Editia again this week as we prepare to launch our next title, a short book called Nauru Burning: An uprising and its aftermath, by Sydney author Mark Isaacs (left).

This is what World Vision CEO Tim Costello had to say about it:

“Mark Isaacs’s insight into the events that led up to the riot and fire at the Nauru refugee detention centre, and its aftermath, should concern every Australian. This book is graphic evidence of dark practices directly linked to Australia’s immigration and border protection policies. It is a shameful story that needed to be told. Mark Isaacs has rightly taken a stand against a policy of secrecy and lack of scrutiny that may have hidden the truth forever.”

You can download our press release about the book here, and share details of the Melbourne launch at Readings Carlton on November 3 on Facebook here. There will be an event at Gleebooks in Sydney on November 9, too.

Mark is available for interview and for public appearances. Please contact me via charper at editia.com to arrange these or to inquire about extract rights and review copies.

I’m so proud to be publishing this title. It is an important book at a critical time for Australia. Our country’s policies on asylum seekers are appalling. I have no doubt we will look back on this period in history with a sense of shame.

I hope that by getting Nauru Burning out there, we can influence ordinary Australians to question the nation’s offshore detention policies and press for change, in turn influencing our political leaders to take a stand rather than allowing these atrocities to continue on their watch.

Ever since Editia launched five years ago, I’ve been hoping a high net worth, tech savvy entrepreneur who gets journalism and digital publishing would come along and want to invest in a company that was built around the two.

In recent weeks, two such individuals have come into my life, one after the other. They’re energetic, they’re smart, they’re successful and they don’t just care about the place where journalism meet digital publishing, they totally get it, too. I have to keep pinching myself to make sure they’re real.

Unfortunately for Editia, the journalism and digital publishing business they’ve decided to take over is not this one, but the RiotACT, the Canberra news and opinion website of which I am editor in my day job. You may not have heard of it if you’re from outside Canberra, but it has a serious presence in the capital, with around 140,000 unique visitors per month to the website, and more than 16,000 people signed up to its Facebook page.

I took a three month part-time contract with the RiotACT in late September 2015 to earn some regular income. It was immediately clear that this presented a problem for Editia, because it left little time or mental energy for publishing longform works.

Getting back into shortform online journalism felt like coming home. In a few months, it will be 20 years since I first joined smh.com.au as a web producer. The move to digital news was just beginning then. Now it’s almost complete. It’s as exciting to be part of it now as it was then.

But my new employers have talked me into going full-time, and with a young family to look after when I’m not working, my commitment to Editia has had to be scaled back. Over the next few months, we will publish four books that are almost ready for market. After that, we will publish no more than one title a year.

One book we will no longer be publishing by mutual agreement given the time constraints is Canberra author David Dufty’s The Kana Code. ArtsACT had provided funding to Editia for this title, and we had in turn already paid a portion of it to the Canberra author. Editia has returned the remainder of the grant monies to ArtsACT in full. We wish David every success with the title and will be cheering it on from the sidelines in the months ahead.

Given our remaining contracted titles will now take us through till 2018, submissions are currently closed.

We’ve given notice on our beloved office at the fabulous Gorman Arts Centre in Canberra and moved out last month. There is no point having an office if you can’t even find the time to commute to it, but we are already missing the iconic art deco buildings, the leafy courtyards, and, most of all, the passionate artists and administrators we have shared them with these past few years.

Exhausted by the election campaign already? Picturing a post-election mini-break from texts, tweets and talking points? Enter the #followtheleaders photo competition and you could win a three-day weekend at a luxury retreat with your own private infinity pool.

Whoever you are, wherever you’re based, you can take a photo of your copy of Follow the leaders in the best campaign moment, use the hashtag #followtheleaders and upload it to social media to be in the running for the Ultimate Post-Election Recovery Pack. The cover of the book needs to be clearly visible, as in this shot of ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr (who faces his own election challenge this year):

This photo of Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten reading Follow the leaders at Parliament House is fantastic (because Mr Shorten is reading Follow the leaders!) but wouldn’t win the competition, because the front cover is not visible:

We encourage entry via selfie because if anyone is going to need a break in a luxury retreat after the longest election campaign in history, it’s our political leaders. Oh, and if anyone has an advantage going into this competition, it’s them, their staff and representatives of the media covering the campaign. We encourage all on the hustings to make the most of the head start they have.

You can use the ebook to enter. Just hold your ereader, tablet or smartphone up with the cover image visible in shot.

The prize includes a stash of Beroccas, fine wine and gourmet treats from Delightful Baskets, a voucher for a one-hour massage with Canberra-based måă organics, and a three-day weekend for two at Indigo Retreat West Lodge, Murrah Beach NSW in July, August or September this year.

Readers should photograph a copy of the book with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull or Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten in shot, or in any significant election-related scenario, between now and July 3. Post the image on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram using the #followtheleaders hashtag to be in the running.

You may see photos of the book in the thick of it taken by Follow the leaders author Francis Keany, Editia staff and members of their families during the campaign, but fear not, none of us is eligible to win. We just want to join in – and encourage – the fun.

Sadly, Editia is in wind-down mode, and no longer operating an online bookstore here. We are in the process of returning rights to all our titles to their authors, so please contact the authors directly if your favourite bookstore is out of stock or you can’t find the book in your preferred ebookstore.

If you need to contact us, please send us a message via our Facebook page (facebook.com/editiabooks) before June 30, 2018.

Thank you all for your support over the past five or so years. It’s been grand.

Follow the leaders: How to survive a modern-day election campaign
By Francis Keany

With a foreword by The Age National Affairs Editor Tony Wright

To be launched by Fairfax Chief Political Correspondent James Massola at Paperchain Bookstore, Manuka on Wednesday, April 27 at 5.45 for 6pm

With the 2016 federal election likely to be called within weeks, Editia’s latest title shines a light on the pressures facing journalists travelling with the leaders throughout the campaign.

Follow the leaders: How to survive a modern-day election campaign by broadcast journalist Francis Keany provides a rare and personal look into life on the hustings, based on his experiences in the 2013 poll.

Keany learns much about his profession, his peers and himself amid the maelstrom of Kevin Rudd’s brief comeback as Labor leader, following both the PM and his eventual successor Tony Abbott on the election trail.

Between abattoirs and bowls clubs, the travelling pack must battle political minders, punishing schedules, a lack of mobile phone reception and their own short tempers to bring the news of the day to their audiences.

Keany details the mechanics of electioneering and the politics of the media bus with the keen yet rapidly jading eye of a journalist covering his first campaign.

‘Follow the leaders’ is an essential read for followers of politics, aspiring journalists, and seasoned campaigners who will recognise some of the more bizarre scenarios that unfold throughout the campaign.

‘Follow the leaders’ will be published by Canberra digital first specialist non-fiction publishing house Editia on April 27, 2016 and retails for $19.99 in print, or $9.99 as an ebook.

The paperback edition runs to 178 pages. The print ISBN is 9781942189404, and the cover photograph by Alex Ellinghausen is published with the permission of the photographer and Fairfax Media.

This book has been published with the assistance of a Walkley Grant for Innovation in Journalism.

Stay tuned for details of our #followtheleaders competition, in which readers supply photographic evidence that the book is on the road with the leaders battling it out in this year’s Federal election.

Francis Keany was born in Canberra the year Bob Hawke became prime minister. As a child, Francis wanted to be a chef or town planner, but he grew up and came to his senses, realising journalism would be much more exciting.
Known as Frank in the halls on “the hill”, the thirtysomething broadcaster spent the first decade of his reporting life in commercial television and radio, including as senior political reporter for Fairfax Media’s 2UE at the time of the 2013 election.

Francis joined the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery in 2012, and in 2014 was shortlisted for the Wallace Brown
Award for the best and fairest early career parliamentary journalist. He joined the ABC in 2015, and can be found on
Twitter at @fjkeany.

Booksellers, please order your copies of Follow the leaders through NewSouth Books.

Here at Editia we are so pleased that Peter Greste is finally “home” in Nairobi, Kenya, able to sleep in his own bed for the first time since late 2013. He left his apartment there to spend two weeks filling in for a colleague in Cairo and wound up in a prison cell for 400 days.

That said, we’re also looking forward to seeing him back in Australia for a few days in early December. Peter will speak at the Brisbane launch of Prison post: Letters of support for Peter Greste, alongside other members of the Greste family, at Avid Reader, 193 Boundary St, West End, Brisbane from 6pm-8pm on Tuesday, December 8. He’ll sign copies of the book too, making this the perfect opportunity to get all your Christmas shopping done at once.

We’ve now published the videos of the Sydney launch for the book featuring moving footage of Peter discussing the impact the letters had on his state of mind while in prison plus letter writer Wendy Harmer’s utterly gorgeous speech about why she got involved in the campaign. There are heart-rending words from two other letter writers, Brisbane activist Paige Garland and Sydney schoolgirl Pippa Pryor, and some great questions from the crowd who filled the space at Berkelouw’s in Paddington a few weeks back.

Check them all out on our YouTube channel here, or select individually:

Please share these videos and the link for the Brisbane launch widely, and remember to use the hashtags #freeajstaff and #journalismisnotacrime. Until he receives a pardon, Peter remains a convicted criminal in the eyes of Egyptian law. The campaign continues.

Media coverage of Prison post started with the front page splash of The Huffington Post on launch day, Friday September 4, 2015. HuffPostAustralia ran a package including extracts from some of the letters, video interviews with Peter Greste and his family, and an extract from Peter’s foreword to the book.

Within an hour, the US, UK and Canadian editions of HuffPost had also added the story their home pages, and the Japanese editors had arranged for translating of the package.

Crikey ran a story on the book and the launch that afternoon.

The Sydney Morning Herald,The Age and The Canberra Times reported on the launch in a story that ran online on Saturday and in print editions on Sunday.

Spotted another story or a review? Please let us know. Review copies are available from publicity<at>editia<dot>com.

While foreign correspondent Peter Greste is free in Australia following his deportation from Egypt in February, he was convicted on terrorism charges in absentia on August 29, 2015. The campaign to clear his name and those of imprisoned Al Jazeera colleagues Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahmy continues.

After the three were found guilty of reporting false news and endangering Egypt’s national security at the end of the first trial in June 2014, the Greste family set up an email account for messages of support they could print out to take to Peter in prison. The trickle of emails that had begun with his arrest the previous December increased exponentially. Peter was staggered by the range and spirit of the notes.

“Whenever I find my resolve wavering; whenever I feel weak or angry or frustrated; whenever I lose sight of the ‘why’, I only need to dip into the huge pile of letters for the answer,” he said. “You’ve all given us and our families enormous strength; and for that I am hugely grateful.”

Now, readers will be moved by the emails just as Peter was. They can learn more about the award-winning journalist through the writings of friends and colleagues, and revisit the 400 days he spent in prison through the eyes of supporters. There are letters from names we recognise, like Wendy Harmer, Kaz Cooke, Tracey Spicer and Julie Bishop, and from ordinary women, men and children who hoped that stories from their everyday lives might make Peter’s time in prison more bearable.

Profits from this book will assist the Foreign Prisoner Support Service.

Peter will appear alongside letter writers Wendy Harmer, Paige Garland and Pippa Pryor at the launch at Berkelouw’s Paddington in Sydney on Friday, September 4, 2015 at 6.30pm. Please visit berkelouw.com.au for bookings.

Juris, Lois, Andrew, Kylie, Mike and Nikki Greste discuss Prison post in one of two book trailers promoting the book. Peter features in the other. Both will be available via Editia.com from Friday, September 4, 2015.